Date bars: A great place to go for nutrition

I remember when I was a little kid my grandmother had a friend who would spend the entire month of December making Christmas cookies. If I had to guess, I'd say that she would make 200 dozen cookies by the time Christmas Day arrived.
She served them to guests who stopped by. She'd package some of them up as gifts. She'd even give some to "unfortunate" people, as she would call them - homeless people who she'd seek out under bridges or behind the office building where she worked. In those days, no one talked about the homeless. No one talked to them, or much less fed them. Throughout the year, she'd stop by their camps with sandwiches or something, but at Christmas time, she always made sure everyone had cookies.
She made traditional Italian cookies, "plain American" cookies that she would decorate with icing and all kinds of bar cookies...fig, berry and date.
are one of those exotic foods that most people either love or hate. My kids think they look like bugs and won't even try them. I love the sweet, earthy taste of this Middle Eastern fruit of the Date Palm. And, they really are good for you, with lots of fiber, calcium, iron and potassium.
Here is a recipe for those Date Bars, as best I can recreate it. Even if you don't think you like dates, try these, I think you might be surprised. You can make these just as well without the sugar...dates are naturally sweet, but some people like it really sweet.

Date Bars

2 8-ounce packages of dates, chopped
2 cups of sugar
2 cups of water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup oatmeal, not instant
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup unsalted butter, diced, room temperature

• Bring water to simmer in medium saucepan. Add dates and sugar. Simmer until very soft and thick like jelly.
• Stir the mixture occasionally for about 10 minutes.
• Cool to room temperature. Stir in the vanilla when the mixture has cooled. It will be thick.
• Combine the flour, brown sugar, oatmeal, cinnamon, and baking soda, in a large bowl. Stir to blend.
• Add the butter. Using your fingers, mix until moist clumps form.
• Press half of this oatmeal mixture evenly over bottom of a square 8-by-8 inch pan. Spread date mixture over the crust. Sprinkle the remaining oatmeal mixture on top of the fruit and pat down the top layer to make it stick better.
• Bake at 350 degrees until the crust starts to get a little brown at the edges - about 40 minutes.
• Cool and cut into bars.

Vegetarian.